Old Frantz Cemetery

An aerial view showing The Matthias home, The Christian Frantz Homestead, the Old Frantz Cemetery and the current Little Swatara Church of the Brethren.

The old entrance gate in the center of the front wall.

Over the years the road was lowered to change the grade of the hill

approaching the cemetery and this entrance became unusable.

A new entrance was opened on the south east corner to allow easy access.

The north end of the Old Frantz Cemetery about 1970

The south end of the cemetery showing Matthias and Elizabeth’s head stones. The new entrance is located in this corner behind these stones.

Old Frantz Cemetery Damage

Several months ago, a driver crashed into the stonewall around the Old Frantz Cemetery on Wintersville Road. Damage to the wall is extensive. Richard has been working to find someone willing to do the repairs and got an estimate for the cost of the work. At this point that cost appears to be between $10,000 and $15,000.

In addition, to the wall, the headstone for Elizabeth Bashore Frantz, wife of Matthias Frantz was also broken.

Cousin John David Frantz (E441), shouldered the respocibility of contacting the State police and the insurance company listed at the time of the accident. Unfortunately, the insurance was lapsed and the driver uninsured.

Richard just recently discovered that the cemetery owner is likely The Little Swatara Church of the Brethren and not the owner of the Farm on which it is located. Since we were unaware of this, it was not known by the Church either. As it is located on a separate tract of land it is not likely covered by the Church’s insurance and it is not reasonable to expect them to be involved.

John and the reunion committee will be in discussion as to how we will proceed.

I will be traveling to the cemetery next Saturday to attempt a repair to the Elizabeth Stone.

We will pass on more as information becomes available.

Susan Reinhold

Another angle of the damage.

Old Frantz Cemetery Repairs

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On Sunday May 7th, our Treasurer Timothy Frantz, reported a total of $14,650 collected for the repair of the Frantz Cemetery Wall. This is good news. Our current estimate for the masonary work to repair the wall is $15,000.00 and we are within “spittin’ distance” of that amount.

In addition to the repair of the stone wall we will need to straighten and re-hang the iron gates. The stone of Elizabeth Bashore, Matthias Frantz’s wife was also snapped off and will need to be repaired. In order to protect the cemetery in the future we intend to place concrete “jersey barriers” to prevent future damage.

It is also a goal to fund insurance to protect the clan from future incidents of this nature. That goal is complicated by the foggy ownership issue. The cemetery is on a privately owned farm, but, the land owner acknowledges that it is separate from his farm. There is some historic evidence of ownership being passed to the Little Swatara Church of the Brethren, however they have no knowledge of that fact. So the issue of insurance remains a project for the future.

So while we have received sufficient funds to pay the mason for his work, there are other expenses to be covered.

We are hopeful that another $5000 can be added to the coffers to complete the project and carry forward for future expenses.

Susan Reinhold

Work on the restoration has begun. The mason is taking the stones apart, cleaning them and preparing the foundation to re-lay the stones.

Susan Reinhold

Notice the base of Elizabeth’s broken stone just to the left and in front of the white bucket

Susan Reinhold